In the Beginning

The Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir owes its origins to the St. David’s Society, formed in the late 19th Century to assist indigent Welsh seamen who were stranded in Dublin. On 20 October 1966 a group of the regular attendees formed a male voice choir. The choir’s first public performance took place in 1969. The concert was remembered for the fact that the stage collapsed under the choir as it sang! In 1970, on the eve of the Ireland-Wales rugby match, the choir sang in Old Wesley Rugby Club under the direction of Keith Young for the first time. Also in 1970, the choir competed in the Pan Celtic Festival in Killarney. In 1976, the choir returned to Killarney and won the male voice choir competition for the first time. By the mid 1970s, the choir was well established and widely recognised in Ireland and beyond for its unique style and repertoire.

Our CDs

The choir has produced a number of CDs, covering a wide repertoire comprising operatic choruses, more popular music and, of course, the hymns for which Welsh choirs are internationally renowned. In 1999 the DWMVC recorded 2 CDs "All Through The Night" and "XV on Song". As a result of their success, the choir recorded two further CDs "Christmas Songs and Carols" in 2001 and "Live at Monkstown" in 2003. In May 2010 the choir recorded “The Creation” CD. Vincent Browne a longtime admirer of the Choir was the special guest speaker at the official launch. All the choir’s CDs are available for purchase from this website.

TV Appearances

The DWMVC have appeared on television both in the UK & Ireland right through the 1970s to the current date. Some of the more memorable occasions in Ireland have been; The Late Late show on rte with folk singer Rita McNeill, The Live Mike Murphy Show with Dermot Morgan and more recently, Nationwide, Seoige Live and Tonight with Vincent Browne. The Choir have also been featured on various recordings for the BBC, ITV and S4C. The highlight for the Scarlet supporters in the Choir the S4C filmed performance at Parc y Scarlets

Special events

The choir has had the privilege of preforming at some prestigious events and venues. We have preformed at both St Patrick's and Christchurch Cathedrals and made several appearances at the National Concert Hall. DWMVC have sang the anthems at Lansdowne Road on three occasions, The Special Olympics in Croke Park and the Aviva. Recently we were invited to sing for the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin. In Wales amongst others we have sung at National stadium, Cardiff International Arena, and the Millenium Stadium. We have preformed at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Festival of 1000 Voices. The Choir have shared a stage with Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Bryn Terfel and Rhys Meirion. In 2012 Conductor Emeritus Keith Young received and MBE by the Queen for services to Welsh Music and culture Overseas.

To the future!

2016 will be our centenary year where we will be celebrating 50 years of choral singing. We have many exciting projects lined up both for 2015 and what promises to be a very exciting year following. Since 1966 DWMVC have helped to raise over 500,000 € for charities and good causes. We hope to continue having a positive affect through our music. We have travelled across Europe and North America and look forward to more trips and creating new memories. Watch this space as we evolve with the likes of social media yet remain the same! To the future........

History of the Dublin Welsh Male Choir

The Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir was formed in November 1966 at a meeting of the St David’s Society, an organization that dates back to the beginning of the last century.The membership has gone from around twenty singers in those early days to over sixty at present.The choir entered many competitions throughout the 1970s and 1980s, winning in all the four main locations in Ireland, namely Killarney, Arklow, Navan and Galway. It has also competed in Wales four times, in Llandudno, Cardigan and twice in Porthcawl.In 1987 Dublin Welsh became the first Irish choir to be invited to participate in the‘Festival of a Thousand Male Voices’ at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Further invitations were to follow during the 1990s when the choir sang in three ‘World Choir’ events in the National Stadium in Cardiff as part of an enormous 10,000 voice choir, accompanied by famous soloists such as Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Bryn Terfel. The choir has regularly appeared on RTE Television, BBC Wales and S4C, the Welsh language channel, and has recorded programmes for radio. It has also performed at many prestigious venues in Dublin, such as St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church and the National Concert Hall, as well as in halls and churches in other cities and towns all over Ireland.Tours abroad have become commonplace over the last seventeen years. These include visiting Georgia, USA in 1994, Normandy in 1998, Toronto, Boston and New Hampshire in2004, Paris in 2007 and Tuscany last year. The choir sang at many famous landmarks on those tours, with the Atlanta Bowl, the Basilica in Mont-St-Michel and Florence Cathedral standing out as the most memorable.Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir has had strong links with rugby over the years and has sung on the pitch on Lansdowne Road at three Internationals between Ireland and Wales, in 2000, 2002 and 2004. Two years ago, on a short tour of South Wales, the choir sang at Llanelli RFC’s ground, ‘Parc-y-Scarlets’, on the eve of the Wales v Ireland game in Cardiff. The performance was televised that night, and the following day the choir sang at a Celtic Festival in Cardiff and also at the City Hall. To the delight of the choir’s Irish members, Ireland won the Grand Slam later that day. Earlier this year the choir returned to Lansdowne Road and the newly built ‘Aviva Stadium’ and sang again on the pitch in a curtain-raiser to the Heineken Cup semi-final match between Leinster and Toulouse.With such a strong connection with rugby, it was only natural that the choir re-issue the “Rugby Anthems” disc, its seventh CD, in a Rugby World Cup year.In June 2010, Keith Young, the choir’s Musical Director, retired after forty years of dedicated service. He was succeeded by Geraint Waters, the choir’s current Musical Director in September 2010. The accompanist, John Shera, has served the choir since 2004 with distinction.

General

The Choir has performed in 22 Irish counties. It has yet to perform in Cork, Donegal, Laois and Waterford.There have been 217 DWMVC members since the choir formation in 1966. The current membership is 76, ten of whom are presently on ‘leave of absence’During its 45 years Dublin Welsh has given over 500 performances at home and abroad